Kyrgyzstan's Alpine Splendor

Kinzer, Stephen. New York Times [New York, N.Y] 14 May 2000: 5.8.

Abstract

Kyrgyzstan, arguably the world's least-known country, is one of the five new states that emerged in Central Asia following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. It does not compare to neighboring Uzbekistan in the grandeur of its historical sites; there is nothing to rival such ancient cities as Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. But no other part of Central Asia, and few places anywhere, can match its alpine splendor.? During the Soviet period, most of Kyrgyzstan was off limits to outsiders. The eastern part of the country, which has the most magnificent landscapes, was controlled with special vigor because it borders China and was considered highly sensitive. Those days are now gone, and the mountains of eastern Kyrgyzstan, little explored, are open to one and all.? Like most visitors to Kyrgyzstan, I began my trip in the capital, Bishkek, which was called Frunze in Soviet days. Bishkek is not unpleasant, but has few attractions to hold a traveler. One is the sprawling Osh bazaar. Homemade cheeses, honeys and sausages are among the main attractions, along with rugs and other native handicrafts. This is a poor country but also one of astonishing ethnic variety, and both its poverty and its many faces are on display at the bazaar. The day I was there I learned that not everyone in Kyrgyzstan is happy with the political transformation of the last decade. One vendor, a toothless crone, who was an ethnic Russian, erupted in anger as a visitor tried to take her picture. When he persisted she lifted a large glass jar over her head and chased him away with cries of Fascist! Occupier!

Full text

STEPHEN KINZER is chief of the Istanbul bureau of The Times.

IF you spend two weeks in Kyrgyzstan and are never offered a sheep's eye at dinner, should you be insulted or relieved? This question has been preoccupying me since my return from a trip through that quintessentially remote Central Asian land.

Kyrgyzstan is rich in spiritualism and myth. Shamanism is still widely practiced. In rural areas people worship the mountains, the rivers and the sun, and more than a few wear talismans beneath their shirts.

The Kyrgyz have been nomads since time immemorial, following flocks of sheep and yaks to pasture lands as the seasons change and living in portable round tents called yurts. Their nomadic tradition makes them unusually hospitable. Although most of them now live in fixed abodes and even nomads come down from the mountains in winter, they still welcome guests as warmly as they did in the days when visitors were the only source of news from the outside world.

Sheep are not only a source of sustenance in Kyrgyzstan but also sacred creatures that were for centuries at the center of tribal life. Each part of the sheep has an association with some power. At many feasts, it is still normal that the guest of honor be offered the right eye of a grilled sheep, and that he or she eat it while the other diners applaud. The second most honored guest receives the left eye, and the next two are given the ears. I was never feted this way. Later I concluded that I was traveling too quickly to give anyone the time or desire to prepare such a meal for me. Even if they had, I could not have assumed that I would be considered the guest of honor. Perhaps missing out on the eye was not such a great loss after all. Still, when I travel I like to believe that I am immersing myself in the local culture, so although my two-week trip last fall was full of adventure, I still feel vaguely unsatisfied.

Kyrgyzstan, arguably the world's least-known country, is one of the five new states that emerged in Central Asia following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. It does not compare to neighboring Uzbekistan in the grandeur of its historical sites; there is nothing to rival such ancient cities as Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. But no other part of Central Asia, and few places anywhere, can match its alpine splendor.

During the Soviet period, most of Kyrgyzstan was off limits to outsiders. The eastern part of the country, which has the most magnificent landscapes, was controlled with special vigor because it borders China and was considered highly sensitive. Those days are now gone, and the mountains of eastern Kyrgyzstan, little explored, are open to one and all.

Mountains cover 90 percent of the country and have a mystic hold on the national consciousness. Along with its 3,000 lakes, hundreds of rivers and scores of glaciers, they make this a wonderful place for an outdoor vacation.

Like most visitors to Kyrgyzstan, I began my trip in the capital, Bishkek, which was called Frunze in Soviet days. Bishkek is not unpleasant, but has few attractions to hold a traveler. One is the sprawling Osh bazaar. Homemade cheeses, honeys and sausages are among the main attractions, along with rugs and other native handicrafts. This is a poor country but also one of astonishing ethnic variety, and both its poverty and its many faces are on display at the bazaar. The day I was there I learned that not everyone in Kyrgyzstan is happy with the political transformation of the last decade. One vendor, a toothless crone, who was an ethnic Russian, erupted in anger as a visitor tried to take her picture. When he persisted she lifted a large glass jar over her head and chased him away with cries of Fascist! Occupier!

Before leaving Bishkek, I visited a rugged glacial park called Ala-Archa. Less than an hour outside the city limits, it is an impressive introduction to Kyrgyzstan's natural riches. I hiked past waterfalls cascading over wooded cliffs, peered down gorges at rushing streams, and climbed a rocky path to a yurt where President Askar Akayev sometimes entertains guests. Nowhere have I found such rugged beauty so close to a national capital.

From Bishkek, the logical direction to travel is east. There are other interesting parts of the country, of course. The western town of Talas and the mountain outpost of Naryn both have their charms. So does the southern city of Osh, with its dazzling mix of ethnic groups that reflect Central Asia's racial diversity.

Osh seems peaceful these days, but last summer a band of insurgents seized a plot of land in the nearby hills, taking hostages and holding them for several weeks in a quixotic mission apparently aimed at fomenting revolution in their native Uzbekistan. Prudent visitors may wish to avoid it. Most of the roughly 100,000 tourists who visit Kyrgyzstan each year come from Russia. Tourism experts estimate that fewer than 20,000 non-Russians came in 1999. Most made their way to the country's eastern region, and with good reason.

In Bishkek I hired a car and local driver, and together we made our way eastward. The road was paved and in decent shape most of the way. Every few miles we were stopped by sheepish police officers who alleged some imagined offense and then asked for the equivalent of 50 cents to overlook it. After a couple of hours, we came to the fabled Lake Issyk-Kul. This vast body of water, one of the largest mountain lakes in the world, is fundamental to Kyrgyz identity. There are many legends about it, and divers are said to have found evidence of ancient cities lying on what is now its floor. Tribes used to pray to its patron spirits. Nineteenth-century explorers marveled at it, one calling it a blue emerald set in a frame of silvery mountains. More recently, political leaders have built villas, all of them hidden by fences and high hedges, along the shore. Obviously they know a fine place to relax when they see one. I passed one villa that was used by the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, and another now owned by President Nursultan Nazarbayev of neighboring Kazakhstan.

The paved road encircles the lake, winding through poplar and apricot groves and meadows where cannabis grows wild. As I moved eastward, I sensed the land becoming less dry and more verdant, no doubt due to moist winds that sweep down from the great Tien Shan range. Finally, after a drive of about eight hours, I arrived at Karakol, which with 80,000 inhabitants is the largest town in the region and a jumping-off point for exploration of the wilderness beyond.

The area around the lake offers a fine view of Kyrgyz life. Nomads move up and down the surrounding peaks in warmer months, and the views are wonderful. Fat trout can be pulled from the water without much trouble. I met a Swiss college student walking along the shore who told me he had spent two months exploring the area, trekking in the hills, taking buses when he felt like it, and sleeping for a couple of dollars a night in the homes of local villagers. But the most striking scenery, the vistas for which Kyrgyzstan will one day be famous, are to be found east of Karakol.

Immense, regal and forbidding, the peaks of the Tien Shan, or Celestial Mountains, soar to heights of more than 20,000 feet. The highest, of course, beckon only daring or suicidal climbers. But this region offers the wonders of nature to visitors of all sorts. There are fields full of rare flowers that swarm with brilliantly colored birds, gentle hills that offer modest challenges to hikers, and low mountains that are beginning to attract serious trekkers from many foreign countries.

I spent one day driving through the Tien Shan, which were covered with snow even in early autumn, gazing in awe at soaring blue glaciers. On another day, I rode a horse borrowed from a local hunter through verdant foothills, trotting across pristine streams and stopping for tea and fermented mare's milk at a yurt where the floor was covered with colorful felt carpets. I had no time for camping or white-water rafting, but envied people I met who did. Most told me they had not imagined that a place like this could still exist, so wild and unknown yet accessible to even the moderately adventurous traveler.

The morning before I left Karakol, I came to breakfast at the rustic Yak Lodge and found a bowl of meat waiting on the table for me and the handful of other intrepid guests. It was tender and tasty. This was my first experience eating ibex, a large mountain goat that lives in the Tien Shan. It was as exotic a dish as I had in Kyrgyzstan. Like the elusive snow leopard that is a symbol of the Kyrgyz people, the sheep's eye eluded me on this trip. It is only one of the tantalizing attractions that I hope will bring me back someday to this land at the foot of the sun.

Getting around a former Soviet republic

The Basics

Those who want to experience the glories of Kyrgyzstan must expect some discomfort and inconvenience, as no tourist infrastructure yet exists.

The best way to Bishkek, the capital, is by air through Istanbul with Turkish Airlines or through London with British Airways.

There is no decent guidebook, although the Central Asia volumes in the Lonely Planet and Cadogan series contain chapters on Kyrgyzstan. Few good maps exist, but one of the eastern part of the country, where most visitors go, is available from J. S. Company Turkestan, psi@karakol.su, based in Karakol.

For information on obtaining a visa, call the Kyrgyzstan Embassy, 1732 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20007; (202) 338-5141.

Where to Stay

Nowhere is there a first-class hotel, although a Hyatt is under construction in Bishkek. The best hotel now open there is the Pinara-Bishkek, 93 Mira Prospekt, (996-312) 540 143, fax (996-312) 542 408. It has 156 modern and comfortable rooms. Single rooms cost $130, doubles $170. At the Hotel Dostuk, 429B Frunze Street, (996-312) 284 278, fax (996-312) 284 466, there are 179 rooms, which are clean with nice views. Singles cost $83, doubles $111.

Outside the capital, rely on tour agencies or ask for private homes that take guests.

Sightseeing

Tour agencies can make arrangements outside Bishkek, organizing everything from hunting trips to mountain-climbing expeditions to attendance at horsemanship contests. None, however, is thoroughly modern or reliable. The better ones, all based in Bishkek, are said to include these: Top Asia, 175 Toktogul Street; telephone and fax (996-312) 211 644; e-mail topasia@imfiko.bishkek.su; Web site www.elcat.kg/TopAsia.<br> A.K.C. Kyrgyz Concept, 100 Razzakova Street, (996-312) 661 331 or 210-556, fax (996-312) 660 220; akc@mail.elcat.kg; www.akc.com.kg.<br> NoviNomad, Apartment 10, 28 Togoloko Moldo, (996-312) 225 927 or 221 335, fax (996-312) 660 652 or 221 413; e-mailnovinomad@elcat.kg; www.novinomad<br> .com.<br>

Ambitious travelers could combine their trip with a visit to Uzbekistan and/or a ride to the legendary Sunday market at Kashgar in western China.

Indexing (details)

Subjects: Tourism, Geographic profiles, Tourist attractions; Kyrgyzstan

Locations: Kyrgyzstan

Title: Kyrgyzstan's Alpine Splendor

Authors: Kinzer, Stephen

Publication title: New York Times

Publication Date: May 14, 2000

Year: 2000; Section: 5; Publisher: New York Times Company; Place of Publication: New York, N.Y.; Country of publication: United States; ISSN: 03624331; CODEN NYTIAO; Source type: Newspapers; Language of Publication: English; Document Type: Commentary; ProQuest Document ID: 431443892; Document URL: http://search.proquest.com/docview/431443892?accountid=26997; Copyright: Copyright New York Times Company May 14, 2000; Last Updated 2010-06-29; Database: ProQuest Central



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